


Strike us like matches

by never_where



Category: Nothing Much to Do
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Betting, F/M, Female Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 20:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3181295
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/never_where/pseuds/never_where
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started when Beatrice and Ben were in their third year at Hogwarts. They were getting along fine, until suddenly they weren’t.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strike us like matches

**Author's Note:**

  * For [neenichan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/neenichan/gifts).



It all started when Beatrice and Ben were in their third year at Hogwarts. They were getting along fine, until suddenly they weren’t. Beatrice declared him to be the stupidest and most arrogant boy to ever grace the halls of the school and Benedick responded in kind. From then on, every conversation they had turned into an argument – they couldn’t agree on anything. It got to the point where Bea would insist that pumpkin juice was far superior to cranberry juice and then proceeded to down two cups even though she despised pumpkin flavor above all. (Well, she despised Ben more, and since he had already picked cranberry, what was she to do?)  
Their fights, though at the beginning rousing massive attention, became over the time a sort of background noise to the Hogwarts students. Even the teachers seldomly made an effort to stop them. After all, there were only so many detentions they could give them, and anyway, their arguments could also be quite the spectacles. There was more than one bet going on regarding them: Who would win more fights? Who would be the first to use magic when words failed them? (For that one, betting wasn’t really fun – everybody bet on Bea.) How many fights could they have in the first week of school? The tolerance for their heated discussions was only waning before the exams. Then, everyone always gave them ugly looks, because how can one study for Potions when there was an argument about mangos going on? (Don’t ask. Nobody did anymore.)

All this considered, it wasn’t an unusual sight when both of them were opposite each other in the Great Hall, Bea gesturing wildly and Benedick grinning smugly. “…it just abhors all logic! I mean, I know it’s you we’re talking about, dickface, but I would have thought that you were at least somewhat capable of thinking!” Bea said, clearly exasperated that she had to concede him even a little mental capability. By Ben’s growing smirk, he seemed to have noticed.  
“I think there was a compliment in there somewhere, hun.” Ben raised a supercilious eyebrow. “And I really don’t know why it’s so hard for you to understand that I can name my owl whatever name I want. It’s not that difficult a concept. He is my owl ergo I can choose a name for him ergo I did.”  
“I understand the process of naming a pet, numbnuts. But why, by Merlin’s evergrowing beard, would you name an owl Flamingo? It’s stupid because he is an owl, which is a kind of bird, and not a flamingo, which is a different kind of bird – they don’t even live in the same environments!”  
“Well, Bea, since there is no way to have my letters delivered by an actual flamingo – which is, by the way, the most majestic bird there is -, I’m settling for the next best thing, which is naming my owl after the bird I wish it really was.”  
“Your weird obsession with flamingos is one of the things I will never understand. Just like your face.”  
Before Ben could answer to that particularly witty insult (and he wanted to say something, something along the lines of “I will never understand what happened between us” – just so she wouldn’t have the last word, of course), Pedro cut in with a “Just agree to disagree, guys. Use the energy you would spend arguing for another half hour rather to help me finish this DADA essay, okay?” and thus cutting of their dispute for the time being.  
On one of the other tables, a Slytherin fifth year had spent the last few minutes silently studying the two, and now turned to her Hufflepuff friend and said with great conviction: “I bet you 5 galleons that by the end of their seventh year Beatrice Duke and Benedick Hobbes will be together.”  
Her friend snorted the juice she was just drinking out of her nose. “No way! These two’d rather jump of the Astronomy Tower before that happens. Or, you know, push the other one off and make it look like an accident.”  
The Slytherin’s grin turned sly. “Well, then what is the harm in betting?”  
Her friend thought about it and then, with a calculating look at the objects of their bet, responded. “You’re on. I could use the 5 galleons.” They shook hands and with that, the next bet regarding Bea and Ben was made. Even if this one was slightly different to the rest.

\----------  
It was two years later, just after Hero’s disastrous birthday party. All of Hogwarts was whispering about it – that is, when Bea was not in the vicinity, as she had already hexed one boy into the infirmary because he had voiced his opinion a little too loudly – and would have likely continued to whisper a bit more if the Hogsmeade weekend would not have provided a little distraction. Bea had tried to everything to get Hero to come with her, but Hero insisted that she would much rather stay in the castle where she could go into the library without too many people staring at her. After vocally disagreeing with Hero, Bea then had to accept that it was what Hero felt most comfortable with and began her solitary way into the village. On the way there she made sure to glare at every student she was passing, just in case they were even thinking about thinking bad about her cousin. She was so busy glaring when she arrived in the village – there were just too many people here to glare at everyone, even though Bea did certainly try her best – that she literally ran into someone. Scowl still firmly in place, she was just about to give that someone a scathing lecture about maybe paying better attention, when she noticed that it was Ben. Ben, who had gone from long-time enemy to loyal maybe-friend in just a couple of days. Her heart, the stupid thing, did a little flip inside her when Ben smiled at her. (The smile came so naturally when he saw her walking around with that adorable scowl, which was for once not directed at him.)  
“What a pleasure running into you – literally!” He grinned at her and she found herself grinning back a bit, glaring totally forgotten. Well, maybe not totally, because he then asked about Hero, and the mention of her name was enough for a frown to appear on her face.  
“She said she’d rather stay in the castle than be stared at here”, Bea answered. Ben sighed in response, and Bea once again wondered how strange it was, that Ben of all people would be on her side at a time like this. Because all their other supposed friends had accepted Claudio’s harebrained accusations without so much as a thought. (Well, besides Meg and Ursula, which was something.) How could anyone believe such a thing about Hero? Bea felt herself growing angry again, so she took a deep breath to calm herself, just as Ben asked: “So, since you’re all on your own, and I’m all on my own, what would you say about joining forces?” He accompanied the suggestions with a ridiculous wagging of his eyebrows, which a week before would have prompted Bea into spitting fire. Now, it made her smile. (This could not be. How could this be?)  
“I say it would not be the most terrible thing”, she said, and because that somehow felt too nice, she added a “dickface” to it. Ben’s smile nearly split his face in half (This should look weird, Bea thought, why does it look so adorable instead?). So they spent their day together: going to Honeydukes - to buy everything needed for a chocolate salad for Hero -, browsing the shop windows and even drinking a Butterbeer at The Three Broomsticks. They left when they saw Claudio and Pedro entering, because Bea did not think she could handle being in the same room as them without screaming. But except for this episode, they had a splendid day. Bea thought that she had never spent so much time smiling while in Ben’s company, and Ben told one joke after the other just so she continued to smile because he just did not want her to stop. (He felt elated and pathetic at the same time, because how did this happen? Didn’t he hate her just a couple of weeks ago?) (But no, he knew that when he looked at her, it was definitely not hate he felt.)  
And when Bea slipped and Ben grabbed her hand to steady her, she did not let go of his hand even after she regained her balance. It was preemptive, she told herself, just in case she slipped again. (And she nearly believed it, were it not for the erratic thud-thud-thud of her heart, which in her ears sounded a lot like ben-ben-ben.)

\------------  
You would have thought that after years filled with arguments it would have been difficult to have a relationship, but it was surprisingly easy. They were not much for PDA (though they both discovered their love for unused hallways), but they did kiss on platform 9 ¾ at the end of the school year. (Well, Ben couldn’t not kiss her, and to her mild surprise Bea was absolutely fine with this public declaration of non-hate.) It would have been more of a sensation if the other students were not all too busy looking for their families to notice it. One Slytherin, though, saw it and grinned, before jabbing her elbow in her friend’s side. “Pay up, loser!”, she said gleefully. “It looks like I’m right – no surprise there!”  
Her friend turned in the direction of her gaze and her jaw dropped (only figuratively, of course, but it was a close call). “That’s just not possible! I could have sworn that that would never happen, like, ever. What has the world come to when you can’t even rely on enemies anymore?” She noticed the expectant look on her friend’s face and said grumpily: “Fine, you won! But I don’t have the money on me, you have to wait for that.”  
“Tell you what”, said her friend, “you pay for my ice the next time we’re at Fortesque’s and we’ll call it even. Deal?”  
“Deal!”  
“Great. Then we can talk about our next bet.” The Slytherin grinned. “I think for my next trick I’m calling…” – her eyes scanned the platform - “Kate Minola and that new boy, whatshisface… Petruchio!”  
Her Hufflepuff friend laughed. “No way! Don’t let one victory go to your head. I think half the boys are scared to death by her, and she has never shown interest in anyone. If one the Minola girls would date someone, I think it would be Bianca. And didn’t this Petruchio just transfer here? You don’t even know what he’s like.”  
“Yes, well”, the Slytherin waved her objection aside. “Just you wait and see…”

**Author's Note:**

> So, this happened. I wondered how you can make a Shakespeare adaption better, which is obviously with a Hogwarts AU. (Just like everything else - Hogwarts AUs are always the answer.)
> 
> If someone is wondering, I couldn't decide what Houses to put them in, so I just left it out.   
> The title is from a Fall out boy song.
> 
> PS. Slytherin/Hufflepuff-friendships, anyone?


End file.
